On Saturday, December 13, Linganore hosted schools from all over Maryland (and one from Virginia!) in the Maryland Junior Classical Leauge’s (MDJCL) Certamen Saturnalium. Certamen is the Latin word meaning “contest,” which is exactly what a certamen is.

According to the National Junior Classical League website, “Certamen is a game of fast recall of facts about classical civilizations and its peoples, languages, and cultures.  The matches are supposed to be fun, competitive, and informative.”

The certamen featured four rounds of questions, at four levels: Latin I, Latin II, Latin III, and Advanced Latin. Linganore competed at the Latin I level, and garnered 6th place out of 9 teams.

At the end of the certamen, teachers and moderators from the schools in attendance played their own round of teacher certamen in honor of the Saturnalia festival. In ancient times, during Saturnalia, there would be a role reversal and the masters would wait upon the slaves of their respective household. To continue this tradition, the teachers took on the role of the students and played their own round, while two student board members of MDJCL read questions.

Schools that were in attendance include:

• The Country School
• Dulaney High School
• Eleanor Roosevelt High School
• Flint Hill High School (VA)
• The Heights School
• Loyola Blakefield
• Montgomery Blair High School
• St. John’s at Prospect Hall
• Tuscarora High School

In January, the Latin club will go to Flint Hill High School to compete against other schools in MDJCL and VJCL.